Raffaella brought Chicago’s Subterranean venue to life on March 2, 2024 with her Live, Raff, LIVE! headlining tour. Descending from a spiral staircase, Raffaella turned an intimate venue space into the pop, polly-pocket inspired club of our dreams. 

Raffaella started off slow with “Gush”, a song that many fans call “underrated”. With the connection we felt to the Minneapolis-born singer, we couldn’t agree more. The energy slowly grew as Raffaella danced around stage on her tippy toes and bounced from stage-left to right. In the middle of the show, she introduced “Maps”, a Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover, that she sings with “a friend that she likes to kiss” aka Jake Luppen. Since his band, Hippo Campus, is also on tour at the moment, he made an appearance through the song’s backing tracks to beautifully complete the song. 

Later on in the set, she took a moment to shout out an organization called Mayday Health. Mayday Health is a reproductive health education nonprofit. Their mission is to share information on how to access safe abortion pills in any state. They also offer mail and in-person resources for birth control, the morning after pill, and abortions. Take a closer listen to Raffaella’s latest single, “Polly Pocket”, which was written about the ongoing battle of reproductive rights in the United States. 

If you want me to keep it / Maybe you should carry it

To end the show, Raffaella invited a group of friends on stage to sing the perfect encore track, “Grown Up”. Dancing around and sharing the microphone, this was the perfect ending to a Saturday night show in the Windy City. Raffaella’s Live Raff LIVE! tour has a few more dates on the west coast. Make sure to catch a show if you can and keep an eye out for future Raffaella tours!

Article and Photo Gallery by Isabel Dowell